Last week an owner of a home located in Mesquite surrendered 111 dogs found on the property. According to Texas Breaking, animal control officers were sent to the house to rescue them after receiving multiple reports from residents in the area noticing a large number of dogs at the house. The City of Mesquite states that a maximum of three dogs is allowed per home.
All of the dogs were taken to the Mesquite Animal Shelter and were given the appropriate vaccines. Every one of the 111 dogs is of a small breed, and they all needed medical attention, especially with eye issues. After the rush of getting the dogs to the shelter, officials then reached out to local animal rescue organizations for help.
In a written statement, Maria Martinez, the director of the Mesquite Neighborhood Services Division, stated, “We worked with our rescue partners, and by the end of the day, all the dogs left the shelter to begin their new journey.”
“This was a successful rescue event, and we could not have done it without our hard-working city staff who acted quickly and with compassion, and our animal rescue partners,” continued Martinez in the statement.
Dallas Dog RRR and Dallas Pets Alive were among the many rescue organizations that stepped up to aid the Mesquite Animal Shelter. According to the Facebook page of Dallas Pets Alive, they were able to take in six dogs. Before this hoarding case, the Mesquite Animal Shelter was already full of furry companions in their 54 kennels. “A volunteer from DPA says majority appear calm and sweet so far,” speaking of the small dogs within a post on their page.
Patti O’Connell Dawson is the president of the organization Dallas Dog RRR. In a video posted to their Facebook page, she stated, “We were able to get twelve. My hope is that we could have gone back and got more, but hey, we got twelve and other rescues stepped up and got some, so, it is, um, a good day.”
Another post within the page stated that 111 dogs were “fearful, covered in fleas, skin fungus, bloody raw skin” and some were “extremely defensive.” Only three of the 111 dogs were put into a “bite quarantine,” according to Patti.
The RRR in the organization’s name stands for Rescue, Rehab, and Reform. Their website explains that they “rescue abandoned dogs straight off the streets and rescue dogs who are set to be euthanized from high-kill shelters,” especially since they are a no-kill facility.
According to the ASPCA, an estimate of around 3.1 million dogs find their way into animal shelters throughout the United States every year.
Contact your local animal shelter and rescue organizations to adopt, foster, donate, or volunteer.